Gloria Duffy, Ph.D.,
President and CEO, The Commonwealth Club; Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense during the Clinton Administration—Moderator

Part of The Club's Good Lit Series underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation.

Here’s
a chance to meet a remarkable statesman whose career has spanned
academia, industry, entrepreneurship, government and diplomacy. Dr.
Perry has dealt first-hand with the changing nuclear threat and worked
to mitigate it. He was one of the Silicon Valley’s early entrepreneurs,
founding a company that pioneered digital technologies in the race to
understand the Soviet nuclear missile arsenal. His expertise led to
advising the government on national security, including an urgent
summons in October 1962 asking him to serve on the secret team analyzing
U-2 photos exposing the Soviet installation of nuclear armed missiles
in Cuba.

"The danger of a nuclear catastrophe today is greater than it was during the Cold War. Let me repeat that. I feel very strongly on this point. The danger of a nuclear war today is greater than it was during the Cold War. And our policies are simply not compatible with those dangers. I believe this is because our public is blissfully unaware of the dangers. And so I am dedicating my efforts to the task of educating the public on this issue so that we can have a better chance at making intelligent decisions about it." - Former Secretary of Defense William Perry.